The Daily Telegraph reports that the family feud previousy noted at Castle Howard, the setting for both of the film adaptations of Brideshead Revisited, may be on the mend:
Simon Howard’s wife says despite being forced to move out of the iconic building, which was made famous by the TV adaptation of Evelyn Waugh’s novel Brideshead Revisited, her husband still keeps in contact with Nicholas. “My husband has shown such grace and dignity – too much in my opinion – and still speaks to his brother,” Rebecca Howard told the Mail on Sunday’s You Magazine…Nicholas Howard, who is married to former HarperCollins boss Victoria Barnsley, made his younger brother step down from his roles as chief executive and chairman of the company that runs Castle Howard. The full details of how and why the eviction was orchestrated have never been revealed.
The family are reported to have been fully supportive of both film adaptations according to the film makers. Brideshead still features in the Castle Howard promotional efforts.
Meanwhile, another Waugh novel has been implicated in a first novel by Pakistani writer Nadia Akbar. Her novel entitled Goodbye Freddie Mercury concerns today’s Pakistani party goers. As she explains in an interview with a subcontinental website Scroll.in:
Q. I was intrigued by your author photo, which partially hides your face with a copy of Evelyn Waugh’s Vile Bodies. Is there a story behind that?
A. Vile Bodies parallels our worlds in a strange way. I feel linked to Waugh in both subject and background in some ways – social class, his chosen literary subjects, social critique. Perhaps the style of the novel is also remotely connected. I love the idea of voices being shared in threads, the balance of truth and reality tipping and regaining balance. That is partly why I chose first person voices. I also love the irony of the photo. Are we vile or are we beautiful?
